Referendum Day

Today's the big day! August 4, 2010 could go down as an historic day in the development of Kenyan democracy. It's constitutional referendum day, with millions of Kenyans heading to the polls to cast a simple vote - Yes or No - on a new Proposed Constitution of Kenya. Here's a run-down of information on the referendum for anyone who is interested...

1. The text of the proposed constitution can be found here, or if you want the Cliff Notes version, you can scan the Wikipedia entry for it.

2. It would be SHOCKING if 'Yes' doesn't win. The polls over the past two months have been showing steadily increasing support for the proposed constitution. I think the most recent one I saw had something like 70% in favor, 20% against, 10% undecided. Which means that if somehow 'No' is announced as the outcome, you would be a fool not to conclude corruption is at play...

3. Because corruption ain't no joke in Kenya.


4. The people who are against the constitution are, generally speaking, motivated by religion. Although the constitution clearly defines life as beginning at conception, it also has a clause that provides for abortion in certain cases. It states: "Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law." People have been traveling the country assailing the constitution because it will permit the killing of babies. Sound like American politics? That's because it is. The 'No' campaign has been receiving thousands (if not millions) of dollars from evangelical Christians in America, and has even gotten support from a New Jersey Republican Congressman who serves on a sub-Saharan Africa committee. The Congressman (whose name I forget; I read it in the Daily Nation a few weeks ago), has held up the abortion clause in his condemnation of the Constitution, although my best guess is that he hasn't even glanced at the document. I wonder if a Republican politician would even care about the referendum if Obama's roots happened to be in another African country?

The other big religious (Christian) objective to the proposed constitution is the continued inclusion (from the original constitution) of Kadhi Muslim family courts, which would be a subordinate court under Kenya's superior courts (Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court). In addition to having operated in Kenya since its independence in 1963, these Muslim family courts are found throughout the Islamic world. The proposed constitution states: "The jurisdiction of a Kadhis’ court shall be limited to the determination of questions of Muslim law relating to personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance in proceedings in which all the parties profess the Muslim religion and submit to the jurisdiction of the Kadhi’s courts." So to be clear, the courts are only for people who profess Muslim faith, and even then, it's up to them if they choose to submit to the jurisdiction of the court. And it's only related to familial matters - marriage, divorce, inheritance, personal status. And they are subordinate to higher courts. So what's the problem here? It's no doubt true that America is a big influence in Kenya, but unfortunately that includes the bad influences as well. From what I've read, discrimination against Muslims in Kenya - a group that makes up 25% of the country's population - has risen dramatically since the 9/11 terror attacks. This is just more fear mongering by the country's wannabe American evangelicals.

Ryan Ubuntu had a good blog post a few weeks ago that provides some great insight into the religious fervor against the constitution. Pretty scary stuff.

5. Really, the only sane way to use religion in this whole referendum process is to pray that there won't be any violence. Most of the world probably remembers the horrible violence and rioting that took place after the corrupt Presidential election of December 2007. Over 1,100 people died. Kisumu, the nearest city to me, was a hotbed of violence and rioting. I'm confident that there won't be any problems this time around though. First of all, Kisumu is a hotbed of Yes. Virtually everybody's Yes in Western and Nyanza Province. For the most part, the No folks are limited to the Rift Valley. Most of the rest of the country, as the polls are indicating, are strongly Yes. So, it's simply not as contested as the 2007 election was (unless a fast one is pulled and No is announced the winner....yikes).

Secondly, the government has done a good job of taking security precautions. For instance, the government has forced the cell phone companies (Safaricom, Zain, and Orange) to require every single one of the customers to register their phone number in person with photo identification. Every single phone number in Kenya has a name attached to it now. Even mine. I had to go into the Zain store in Kisumu, wait in a long line, and then show them my passport and fill out a form as they registered my number and name in their computer. If I hadn't registered by July 30th, my phone would have been shut off. We even had to register our Safaricom internet modem as well.

As a side note, this precaution would be looked upon approvingly by author Robert Wright as a "non-zero-sum" game. Yes, it's forcing citizens to surrender some personal liberties, but the purpose is to keep them safe. This is the part of Nonzero that I struggled with most - I've been hard-line against the Patriot Act following 9/11, but Wright, even though he wrote the book before 9/11, seemed to be promoting the sacrifice of such personal liberties for the safety of the human race in a nuclear world.

6. The two sides have chosen colors. Green for Yes, Red for No. I was wondering if these colors had larger ideological significance like Blue and Red have in the U.S., but apparently this is the first time they have been used in a prominent national election to represent head-to-head interests. I have a feeling that this could be the birth of an ongoing Green-Red competition in Kenyan politics with each color having an over-generalized meaning. Again, America is not always a good influence.

7. Nonetheless, like Ben, I'm wearing a green shirt today. Stay tuned for the result.

Go Trojans!

First I found my undergrad school in Kenya, and now I've found my grad school in Kenya. Way to go, Trojans.

P.S. This reminds me of another story to tell. When Ryan Ubuntu visited us, our conversation somehow got on to the subject of the difference in condom brand names between the U.S. and Kenya. Trojan is the major brand in the U.S., and Trust is the big brand in Kenya. Ryan had the good insight of how ridiculously different these two names are. While Kenyans are associating safe-sex as a matter of trust between two partners, apparently American men prefer to think of themselves as "trojans," sneaking in and tricking their partners.... Honestly, what's the deal with naming a condom Trojan? Discuss?

Team Kenya Reunited!

Team Kenya - Patrick, Ryan Ubuntu, and myself, have finally been reunited for the first time since flying into Nairobi. Ryan has been touring the country giving human rights trainings, and during his stop in Kisumu, we were able to kidnap him for a night so that he can experience Es'saba village. We had an awesome time, and I know I definitely enjoyed the energy and great conversation he brought with him. I'm impressed by the work he's done too - he's got a great project and is making a real difference with marginalized populations in Kenya. Check out his blog: ryanubuntuinkenya.blogspot.com.

The picture below is from our walk with (who else?) Ben earlier today:

Loving Kenya, loving life.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

So who said this blog was supposed to be all about public service....or even Kenya for that matter? I'm having the time of my life in the capital of the Arab world - Cairo, Egypt! Can you blame me?

Recap of my 2nd day here....

1. First, Ryan, Patrick, and I went to the Egyptian Museum, which houses the world's largest collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt. Tombs, mummies, papyrus, monolithic sculptures, you name it - this place has it. It was really cool, and provided a good primer for our planned trip to the pyramids in Giza tomorrow. Unfortunately, they didn't let us take our cameras in, so I have no sweet shots to show you from the inside - which means you'll have to come to Cairo yourself to see it all! But, here's my pal President Clinton hanging outside of it.

And here's a more artsy one:

Also, my special comment on the museum: Like a lot of places in Cairo, it's kinda dirty and in disrepair. I'd like to come back some day and see it renovated and filled up with brighter light and better descriptions of the artifacts and their context.

2. Then we got in a taxi and went to the Khan el-Khalili marketplace/bazaar. If you've ever been to one of these places, you know the deal....restaurants and cheap touristy stuff to purchase as souvenirs. A big attraction for Westerners here, but still kinda cool.

Here's a short video as I walked down one of the alleys:




3. Lastly, I had one of the funnest nights of my life. Ryan has some family contacts who live in Cairo, and we hung out with them for dinner. We sat outside at a really nice hookah bar restaurant. I tried smoking hookah for the first time in my life. After a few initial coughs, it wasn't that bad, really. I had apple flavor. It got me a little light headed. Also, from conversation and observation, I learned that smoking is a huge thing in Egypt. Tons of people smoke cigarettes, and it is very popular to pass time smoking at the hookah bar. On the other hand, alcohol is not popular in Egypt due to the Muslim faith. It's a give and take. I also learned a lot of other interesting stuff - Egypt has had the same President for 30 years, and despite holding elections every six years, the outcome has apparently been rigged repeatedly for the incumbent. There's also a lot of other corruption here, according to our Egyptian friends, Mohammad and Lamis (who were just engaged to be married two weeks ago). For instance, if a couple were to be caught making out in their car, they could be arrested, but they could just as easily get off the hook by handing the police officer 100 pounds. 

Mohammad is an avid soccer (football) fan, and it just so happened that tonight was a hugely important Egyptian soccer game between Cairo's two teams (it was a quarterfinal match, and they're supposed to be huge rivals). So that game was projected live on a large screen at the restaurant and the place was packed with fans rooting for both sides. Mohammad, and by association, us, were rooting for the red team, but I forget their name. It was crazy fun, and people really got into the game. Best of all, the red team won 3-1. It actually made me appreciate soccer more and realize that it can be a pretty fun sport to watch.

Here's a picture of us watching the game:

 
Here's a picture of our group:

All in all, what a fun night! I really felt like an Egyptian tonight cheering on their sport and joining them in their night life a little bit. :)

A Guy in Cairo!

Patrick and I safely landed in Cairo, Egypt today! We got in at about 1pm local time, and had an awesome, adventurous experience navigating our way from the airport to our hostel. We had the option of taking a cab for 90 Egyptian pounds or taking a city bus for 1 pound and then a short 10 pound taxi ride from where the bus would drop us off to the hostel (1 pound equals about 18 U.S. cents). Being the frugal folks we are (read: cheapskates), we opted for the bus. And let me tell you, that option was like opting to dive head first into Egypt's culture instead of taking the baby steps into the shallow end if we had taken one of the nice air conditioned "official" Cairo airport taxis. So glad we took the head-first dive!

To explain - first, a picture:

We consulted with a tour guide person in the airport who told us of our differing travel options, and after we chose the head-first dive option, he helped us out by writing directions on this piece of paper. First we were to take the free airport shuttle to the bus station, and then get on either the 400, 27, or 356 bus to go to Tahrir Square, where we would then hail a cab to take a short ride to our hostel, located in Zamalek, which is an awesome little island in the middle of the Nile River.

So we took the shuttle bus to the bus station. Simple. From there on, there's no way we would have made it without the kindness of some awesome strangers. The bus numbers were all in Arabic, so we couldn't tell which bus was which. After some confusing dialogue with some people at the bus station who barely spoke English, we were able to get them to find us the right bus to go on. Once we got on, I still made sure to check with the driver that the bus was in fact going to Tahrir Square.

Next dilemma - this bus isn't like a city bus in New York City or Chicago or something, where there's an LCD screen showing you what stop is next....in fact there's no announcement of what the stops are, and even if there were, there's no way we could have understood what they meant. And to add on to it, the bus just kept on getting more and more crowded...to the point where I couldn't move my body because I was trapped by other bodies and my luggage on all sides of me. I just had to stand there and hang on to the pole above me as my arm continued to lose blood circulation due to gravity pushing it down. Patrick and I had also become separated on the bus by a decent distance, and could no longer see each other because of all the people in between us. We were the only Westerners on it.

So I was essentially riding by myself, separated from Patrick at this point. After realizing this and that there was absolutely no way for me to figure out when I needed to get off the bus, I tapped my neighbor on the shoulder and said, "How much longer until Tahrir Square?" About 30 minutes, I was informed. "How do I know when I get there?" He smiled, and then said something aloud in Arabic to the others in our general vicinity. Seconds later, another man nearby raised his hand and smiled at me. The first man pointed at him and said, "Follow him. He's getting off at Tahrir Square."

So I introduced myself to this second man. His name was Ayman, and he was an incredibly friendly guy. We were both standing for the longest time, but when a seat finally became available, he immediately pushed me towards it, saying "Please, take a seat..." He kept on giving me updates on how close we were getting, despite the fact that he couldn't speak English very well at all.

The picture below should give you an idea of what the bus looked like, although keep in mind that it was much more crowded at its peak. I was only able to take this picture after it cleared out and Ayman forced me to take a seat. 

Eventually, we finally made it to Tahrir Square, where I prepared to say goodbye to him and thank him for his help - me and Patrick's next step, of course was to hail a taxi, which I felt confident we could do on our own. But before I could thank him and say goodbye, he had picked up my 56 pound bag and was leading me out to the street. Me and Patrick hurried to catch up to him - he was moving so quickly and the streets and sidewalk were so crowded. He was insistent on hailing a cab for us, as if it was his mission, his big responsibility for the day. To get a cab though, we needed to cross the street to get to the other side. Without much warning, he said "This way," and jumped out into the street with my bag over his head (I was just carrying my laptop bag, Patrick was still carrying his heavy and awkward luggage). We were seriously playing "Frogger" in the middle of this packed street in Cairo to get to the other side. It was crazy....cars honking, etc. But we made it to the other side and in short order, Ayman had hailed us a cab and we presented the driver, who spoke absolutely no English, the note above, on which the airport tour guide worker had scribbled the name of our hostel and the address in Arabic...what a life-saver! Patrick and I gave many thank yous to Ayman for his incredible kindness and willingness to help us. As we drove off in the taxi, I waved goodbye to him and he kept his eyes locked on mine with his hand held on his heart. Within ten minutes, we were at the hostel, and checked in. Incredible.

A shot of my view from the passenger side of the taxi:

After we chilled in our room for a little bit, me and Patrick hit the town, and took a really long walk all around! And man, let me tell you, Cairo is so COOL! It has a ridiculous amount of trash everywhere all over the ground, but other than that....it's super sweet.

Here's a video I shot today showing a 360 degree view of the Nile River and surroundings from a bridge Patrick and I were walking over:



Also, a couple of shots for Joe Ballard:

MOTOR






CYCLES









BABY!!!!!





More shots in this slideshow:



That's all for today! SO MUCH FUN...so pumped! Ryan Ubuntu gets in tonight. More adventure tomorrow.

Bags Packed, Ready to Go! (And a new friend!)

Tomorrow, I depart for my adventure! Along with my friend and classmate, Patrick Banks, I will board a 6:30pm flight from JFK International Airport in New York City. 11 hours and 5,000 miles later, we will be in Cairo, Egypt!

Of course, Cairo has nothing to do with my International Public Service Project, but we figured we would take advantage of the opportunity to see a new part of the world on the way to Kenya. Along with our other classmate, Ryan Ubuntu Olson, who will meet us there, we will spend three days in Cairo - soaking up the culture, enjoying the food, and visiting the pyramids! Fun.

As you can see from the picture above, all of my possessions for the summer fit into two bags - a duffel bag embroidered with my initials that I received as a high school graduation present, and my trusty laptop bag. It is so liberating to be responsible for just two bags of possessions for the next ten weeks. I can go anywhere with these two bags....nothing's holding me back!

I'd also like to introduce you to another friend who will be accompanying me on my adventure - my very own Flat Stanley! Flat is the main character of a popular 1964 children's book, and has stuck around in popular culture ever since as a world wide traveling companion for thousands thanks to the Flat Stanley Project, which was started to promote cross-cultural understanding and literacy for schoolchildren throughout the globe. For the past few years, the Clinton School has partnered with Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe to bring the benefits of the project to schoolchildren in Arkansas. I'm pumped that my very own Flat Stanley will be sporting the lovely colors of the Kenyan flag - green, red, and black, as well as the yellow of the sunshine in Kijana's logo! And of course, he's looking good with not only the name of my partner organization across his chest, but a very powerful word, idea, and state of mind - Kijana, the Swahili word for Youth. That's what Flat, Patrick, and I are working for this summer - youth - which in my opinion, is the world's most valuable resource. It's not just a time in life, but a way and quality of life - the place where creativity, imagination, idealism, and fun come from. The world needs more of this thing called Youth. And Kenya needs more Kijana.

You'll be seeing more of Flat right here on this blog, but if you're hankering for even more, my classmates and I will be collectively sharing updates of Flat Stanley's travels throughout the globe on all of our projects. Click over to Flat Stanley Travels to see what's going on (and to see Flat's travels last summer with the Clinton School Class of 2010)!

Other than that, I've been chillin' in New York for the past several days, visiting my dear and amazing friends, Caleb and Samantha Hawley. They deserve a shout out - I couldn't ask for better friends. That's all! The next time I post will probably be from Cairo, so until then, stay beautiful!